Mark Zuckerberg’s sudden meeting with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday set off a firestorm of speculation on social media.
Bystanders are already accusing the Meta boss of giving in to the newly elected president after threatening to throw him in jail earlier this year.
The promise of prosecution was made in anticipation of interference in the then-impending elections, which overwhelmingly went in Trump’s direction.
Four years ago, the 40-year-old Facebook founder banned 78-year-old Trump from the platform after claiming the 2020 election had been stolen.
That led to several instances of censorship, which led to Trump painting Zuckerberg as part of a plot against him to manipulate the race.
He later promised that Zuckerberg would “spend the rest of his life in jail” if he did so this time — setting the proverbial table for the pre-Thanksgiving and post-election meal.
Since the meeting was confirmed by Meta, the meeting itself remains a mystery, but quickly gave way to online discussions about what may have happened.
Most portrayed Zuckerberg using the meeting to sing for his dinner because he saw what was at stake.
Mark Zuckerberg’s sudden meeting with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday has sparked a firestorm of speculation on social media. The two are pictured together at the White House in 2019, before Facebook’s founder banned Trump from the platform. He was relocated last year
Bystanders accuse the Meta boss of using the meeting to pander to the president-elect – citing claims of censorship during the 2020 election, which Trump said was ‘stolen’
“Zuckerberg went to (M)ar-a-largo(sic) to tell Trump he has changed his behavior and wants to work with Trump?” wrote an X user.
“Hell no(.) He needs to be investigated for censorship and election interference!”
“No, Trump shouldn’t pay (K)amala’s debt, Trump shouldn’t pardon Hunter, and Trump shouldn’t show mercy to Zuckerberg,” wrote another, referring in part to how Trump has teased paying the reported 20 million dollars the campaign has earned. by Kamala Harris.
The tweet also addressed the federal case surrounding President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, who pleaded guilty in September to a four-year scheme in which he purposely avoided paying $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes from 2016 through 2019 was due.
The political scion also faced a new case of tax evasion in 2018, when he filed false returns. He faces a maximum prison sentence of 17 years when he is sentenced next month.
He also faces a federal firearms conviction in Delaware the same month, which could face a maximum sentence of 25 years — prompting speculation about a last-minute pardon from his father, which could theoretically also preclude any future punishment convert, as a token of mercy. .
Leniency was not on the mind of one
“So Mark Zuckerberg censored conservatives and Trump let this guy come to Mar-a-Lago for dinner?” they wrote on Thursday, before labeling Trump’s decision to hire the tech CEO as “a joke.”
A spokesperson for Meta confirmed the dinner between Zuckerberg and Trump on Wednesday and said he and other members of his team were invited to discuss the new administration. More specific details behind the conversations remain unknown
“It seems like a slap in the face to his supporters,” they concluded, referring to Trump’s fan base.
“Zuckerberg realizes he supported the wrong camp,” another added. ‘Now he crawls on his stomach and writhes like a snake!
“Trump should not trust Zuckerberg,” the account continued, calling Zuckerberg “a fair-weather friend.”
Others posted memes poking fun at what many see as a show of weakness from the Harvard-educated billionaire, whose estimated net worth of $200 billion puts him safely at fourth on the Forbes billionaires list.
Someone else snapped: (T)reen’t many who will forgive Mark Zuckerberg. He’s messed with MAGA one too many times.
“We the people do not like it when anyone messes with our President Trump,” he concluded, paving the way for personalities like Laura Loomer – the Republican candidate for Florida Congress who lost to Democrat Lois Frankel in 2020 – to join in think.
She called the larger connotations of the meeting “disturbing” and accused Zuckerberg of using Facebook and Instagram to censor posts surrounding Trump’s first assassination attempt earlier this year.
“As an American and a die-hard Trump supporter, I will never forget how Mark Zuckerberg censored the photos of the assassination attempt on President Trump and then programmed Facebook to hide and censor all mentions of the assassination attempt,” Loomer, 31, wrote .
Far-right influencer Laura Loomer, pictured with the president-elect, called the connotations of the meeting “disturbing” as she accused Zuckerberg of using Facebook and Instagram to censor posts surrounding Trump’s first assassination attempt earlier this year.
it was ‘deeply disturbing’ that a figure with a history like Zuckerber was “allowed” to dine with the president-elect as a parade of progressive journalists and CEOs continue to travel to Mar-a-Lago to meet him
She added that it was “deeply disturbing” that a figure with a history like Zuckerberg was “allowed” to dine with the president-elect as a parade of progressive journalists and CEOs continue their journey to kiss the ring.
“Donald Trump was blessed with a miracle that day in Butler, and Zuckerberg wants to continue the revisionist history so that no trace of the assassination attempt remains on Facebook and Instagram. That is EVIL.
‘It doesn’t get any worse than that. I can’t keep quiet about that,” the far-right commentator concluded, calling Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan “anti-American lunatics.”
At another point, the right-wing influencer said the social network’s head “stole” her family photos when she was kicked off Facebook for anti-Islamic rhetoric and conspiracy theories such as that the September 11 attacks were an “inside job” carried out by the federal government.
In July, Meta Public Affairs director Dani Lever confirmed instances of Facebook censorship when it came to the assassination attempt, but revealed it had been an error that highlighted posts and showed the now iconic image of Trump’s fist in the air. .
“This was a mistake. This fact check was initially applied to a doctored photo of Secret Service agents smiling, and in some cases our systems incorrectly applied that fact check to the real photo,” Lever wrote at the time.
“This has been resolved and we apologize for the error.”
Meta’s 40-year-old CEO declined to give his opinion on the issue Friday during an interview on “The Circuit with Emily Chang” at Meta’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, but did praise Trump for surviving his widely seen assassination attempt . days before
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Meta confirmed the dinner between Zuckerberg and Trump on Wednesday and said he and other members of his team had been invited to discuss the new administration.
During the race, Zuckerberg notably didn’t offer any support, but he did label Trump’s response to Butler’s assassination attempt as “badass” when asked if he would give one.
“Seeing Donald Trump stand up after being shot in the face and pump his fist in the air with the American flag is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in my life,” said 40-year-old Zuckerberg during an interview with Meta. Headquarters in Menlo Park, California, in July.
“On some level, it’s hard for an American not to get emotional about that spirit and that fight,” the Facebook founder added.
“And I think that’s why a lot of people like him.”
He also complained about how senior Biden administration officials pressured Facebook to “censor” some COVID-19 content during the pandemic — something he said he regrets.
“We made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today,” Zuckerberg said in August.
‘I strongly believe that we should not compromise our content standards under pressure from any government – and we are prepared to push back if something like this happens again.’